The Scars of Life
by Brittany6795
Summary: Regina is stuck in a loveless marriage with no escape. What happens when she accidentally falls from a balcony at her castle? Will she be saved or plunge in the water below to her death? Warning: Mentions of rape and abuse. (Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT or any of its characters.)
1. Chapter 1

***Hey! This is one of my first fanfictions so please tell me what you think and any tips that you think will improve the story are welcome! Enjoy!***

Regina was sick and tired. She had been in one half of a loveless marriage for three years now to an emotionless King, a king that would only show his true self behind the curtains and show no mercy. Every night since her wedding the king came into her bed chamber, drunk of course and forced himself upon her against her wish. She longed for the nights that his selfish daughter, Snow White, would come into her room and ask to sleep with her as a nightmare invaded her dreams or sometimes when either of them were ill... It made Regina sick that she had to turn to her stepdaughter, the girl that practically killed her only chance at life with love, Real love, True love, to save her. She had so many scars from when he abused her when she declined his request for love causing her to wear more and more clothing to cover them up so no one would get suspicious. Especially Snow.

Regina went to bed earlier today because the Annual Spring Ball was on and that meant that the king would be very drunk and abusive tonight so she told him that she wasn't feeling well and left for her room hoping Leopold wouldn't disturb her tonight. She was sleeping peacefully and dreaming about the times that she used to share with Daniel. Riding in the open fields with not a care in the would as they sat down under a tree for a picnic when they looked up spotting shooting stars and making wishes when suddenly she was rudely awoken from her dream when the King slapped her across the face.

"Wake up, Maiden!"

She was so startled and barely awake to what was happening until she smelt the wine and rum that he had been drinking coming of his breath. He pull her long, beautiful brown hair and dragged her to the end of the bed.

"Please don't do this! Not tonight!" She begged by this took no affect on his plans for the night.

"Shut up, witch!"

He picked her up kicking and screaming heading towards his bed chamber.

"Shut up! You will wake Snow!" He said in a harsh whisper.

Once they reached his bed chamber he pushed Regina on the bed and shut his heavy door. Regina, now used to his routine, laid on the bed helpless as she remember what would happen if she were to go against his orders. He ripped off her night gown and started un doing his pants and taking off his shirt. He started raping her here and then.

"You know, I liked it better when you pleaded for your innocence, when you screamed out for... What was his name, oh Daniel, to come and save you but he is DEAD Regina! He is gone! He is in the ground rotting and you will never see him again!"

A warm tear slid down her face. Even though he was used to him saying these things it was like a blow to the face to her every time.

"You know what? I want you to scream my name, Regina. I want you to scream that you love me! That you want me!"

Regina sat there, naked with tears streaming down her face saying nothing.

"SAY IT!" He yelled and slapped her across the face leaving a deep scratch that let a warm stream of blood down her face from his ring.

"I love you." She said with no emotion at all.

He punch her in the stomach making her loose her breath.

"LOUDER!"

"I love you!" She said with angry tears streaming down her face.

For another hour he kept raping her until he finally decide that he was done. He was so tired and drunk that he feel asleep on the bed still naked with a broken Regina laying uncared for on the ground. She pulled herself up and limped to her bedroom where she collapsed on the ground. She wanted to escape! She needed to escape! She decided that she was going to in the morning and take Snow with her. As much as she hated the girl she couldn't leave her with a father like that. Who knows? When she is gone he might just start raping her as well and she wouldn't wish that fate upon her worst enemy, a 24 young, year old girl with her life ahead of her stuck with a sexist pig almost 3 times her own age! She walked over to her balcony of her winter castle and looked out to the ocean with the moon reflecting upon it. It was beautiful. She has always been fascinated with the water, the type of creatures that live in it and what lies far over the sunset. Another land maybe? An island? She will never know... She was leaning on the railing when a small voice came from next to her.

"What happened to you?" It was Snow! Regina had completely forgotten the state that the king had left her in. She had blood running down her left cheek with a bruise surrounding the deep cut and she had bruises up her arms, legs and neck. Some of her blood had also ran into the white nightgown, staining it. Snow had never noticed these as Regina always manged to cover them up but since she was in a Summer nightgown, there was no chance of these scars going unnoticed.

Snow's sudden presence had scared Regina so much that she immediately put all her weight onto the railing which little did she know was not steady at all. The railing started getting looser and looser and started falling when Regina finally realized the consequences of her actions. She started falling backwards when Snow started yelling and grabbing for her hand.

"REGINA!" She yelled as loud as she could. Snow quickly grabbed Regina's hand but most of her body was almost completely off the platform and she was now holding for her life.

"Help! Someone help me!" Snow yelled. While Regina was screaming. Snow was only twelve so she obviously couldn't hold a 24 for long and her hand started slipping.

"HELP!" She screamed at the top of her lungs but Regina had already started slipping too far. Snow lost her grip and let go. Regina started falling the large drop to her likely death which was a good 130 metres. It was funny how free she felt when the wind was blowing in her face.. She felt young and innocent again but the water was getting closer and closer. She could faintly hear Snows pleads for help. Regina was extremely close to the water now.

'Im coming Daniel.' She thought just before she plunged into the water and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

*Hey** everyone! I hope you are liking this story! Please review and tell me what you think, It means so much! Should I continue?***

The moment Regina plunged into the cold water she lost consciousness but she did feel the break. It felt like she had just fell through 10 sheets of glass one after another with the sharp edges harshly beating her as she made her entrance. She started to float towards the bottom of the deep lake surrounding her castle.

Ariel, a mermaid with bright red hair, beautiful brown eyes, wearing a purple top made from shells and a green tail fin. She was swimming by the castle looking for some new human things to add to her collection when she heard an echoing explosion kind of sound. She swam closer to where the noise had came from to get a better look and saw something that she never would have expected. It was a girl... a young women that was floating to the bottom of the sea heading towards her death. Ariel swam as fast as she could up to her and brought her to the surface. She tried to go over to the land but there were sharp rocks and boulders all around the shore to ensure that no unwanted visitors would make an appearance so she stayed where she was to see if the women was breathing but she wasn't so Ariel decided that if she wanted to give the brunette women the best chance of surviving, she would have to bring her to a place where she was sure they would both be safe. Neverland.

Luck was finally on Regina's side for once, she had just been saved by a mermaid who happened to be able to swim through different lands without trouble, and fast too. It was a matter of 5 minutes until Ariel reached the shores of Neverland. She swam up to the beach and layed Regina on the sand. She could finally have a good look at Regina now. She had lost almost all the color in her face and her lips were as blue as the sky from the temperature of the sea. She had bruises all over her body from who knows what.. Surely some from the impact of her fall but there were far to many for just that and a couple of unfortunate accidents. Someone had to have done this to her. She had a large cut on her cheek which was still bleeding and smaller cuts all on her arms and legs.

Ariel dragged Regina further up onto the beach. The weather on Neverland was lovely and warm today with clear skies but you could expect this from such a magical place. It had glowing white sand and clear water with healthy green flora everywhere, you could even hear all kinds of sounds coming from further in the island, animals, talking, even laughter. Some would say that Neverland is a place of paradise.

As soon as Ariel took out the bangle from her bag, she put it on her wrist which automatically turned her fin into legs. She ran up the sand to try and find the one person that she knew could save the young lady on the beach. Tink bell. Tinker bell's pixie dust could do almost anything! It was much more powerful then fairy dust.

"Tinker bell! Tinker bell?!" She yelled wondering though the jungle where she would usually find the fairy.

"Tink! Where are you?!"

"Right here Ariel! You know there berries are-" Tink appeared from behind one of the bushes holding a handful of glowing pink berries.

"There's no time! There's a women on the beach that needs your help! Do you have your pixie dust?"

"Uhh yeah, what's wrong? You know what the God Fairy would do to me if I used pixie dust without her permission."

"I am sorry but there is no time to explain, you have to come fast!"

Ariel pulled Tink along through the track that she just came and out to the beach where Regina was lying lifeless exactly how Ariel had left her.

"Oh my gosh!" Tink stared in horror.

"Hurry!"

Tinker bell sprinkled the pixie dust over Regina's lifeless body. The pair waited a couple of seconds when Regina finally stared to stir. She opened her eyes slowly, squinting to block out the harsh sunlight beating down on her.

"What happened?" Regina asked, confused.

Ariel let the question pass for now.

"What's your name, sweetie?"

"Re..Regina. Who are you? How did I get here?"

"Nice to meet you Regina! I am Ariel and this is Tinker bell. Could you tell us what the last thing you remember was?" Regina started to sit up as she remembered the earlier events.

"I was in my bed chamber and on the balcony when my step daughter scared me, the railing must have given way and I must have fallen.. I just remember hitting the water and everything going black. Where am I?"

"You are in Neverland." Tink finally spoke up.

"But how did I get here?"

"I brought you. I was swimming near by when I heard a crash and I came to see what it was." Ariels voice became more gentle and comforting. "I found you floating to the bottom of the ocean floor with bruises, scrapes and scars all over you.. I couldn't just leave you there.. I had to help so I brought you here and Tink used her pixie dust to heal you." Regina stared up at them both in amazement at there random act of kindness.

"Thankyou! No one has ever done anything for me like that before. How could I repay you?"

"Don't worry about it! How about we take you to our camp and get you cleaned up. Get you out of that wet gown! This is Neverland for God sakes!" Tink laughed while the other two giggled along as well.

Ariel and Tink helped Regina find her legs and took her to their camp. It wasn't really much of a camp anyway.. It was more like a place to sleep. There was a camp fire, a small tree house and some logs to sit on with the jungle surrounding them. When they got to the camp Regina took a seat on one of the logs as Tink and Ariel went to speak alone.

"What are we going to do with her?" Asked Tink.

"Well we couldn't just leave her there.. I don't think she come from a very good place anyway.. When I found her, she looked peaceful. She looked like she was happy to be dying."

"But what if people from her land are looking for her?"

"Well maybe once we get her settled in she might feel more comfortable with us and tell us about everything and if someone would be looking for her or not.. We will just have to cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Fine.. I guess she can stay for a bit. It would be nice to have someone new around."

They both returned back to Regina who was starring of into the distance.

"Regina?" Tink called.

"Yes?" Regina replied snapping out of her blank state.

"Would you like to stay with us here.. For a little while I mean, until you get back on your feet?"

Regina was delighted by this. This meant that she didn't have to return back to her angry, abusive husband and her ungrateful step daughter.

"I would love too." Ariel smiled at this.

"Ok, well then we better get you cleaned up so you can look like you really belong here!"

Regina followed the pair into the tree house to look for something to wear. They gave her a leather skirt just above her knees with a leather singlet top match slightly showing her stomach with a thin pair of brown, leather sandals with string that was tied up her leg like a ballet shoe. Ariel then did Regina's hair as a braid starting at the top right side of her head and making its way diagonally across finishing half way between her elbow and shoulder with flowers weaved all through it. She looked simply beautiful.

"Welcome to Neverland, Regina."


	3. Chapter 3

"Ugh, how can you wear these things!?" Regina complained while fiddling with her new outfit as she was so used to having her clothes made for her. Regina, Tink and Ariel were wondering around the Forrest trying to find some food.

"Well, I guess you just get used to it. We don't have people that are paid to make our clothes like in your land, we have to make them ourselves." Replied Ariel

"You have people that do that for you!?"

"Yes they do, Tink. Every time I travel to her realm I see clothes makers on the streets making clothes for people." Ariel spoke up as Regina went quite, obviously in deep thought about the past few hours.

"Here's a perfect place to start hunting." Ariel pointed out at the green space in front of them with trees scattered carelessly on top of it.

"So how do I do this again?" Regina asked confused about how to use the bow and arrow as she was a queen she never hunted for food, she always had it brought to her at other people's expense.

"Here, you hold up bow up like this and place the arrow between the string and the wood then pull back, aim and release." Tink shot a strong arrow straight through a passing rabbit's body. "Ok, now you try."

"Here goes nothing.." Regina muttered to herself as she did what Tink just demonstrated perfectly. The arrow landed straight through a deer up ahead.

"Your a natural!" Said Ariel, delighted. Regina smiled at her efforts slightly surprised that she could do such a thing. She was a little hesitant at first to kill an innocent animal but she had realized from past events with the King that nothing is innocent. The group gathered their killings and found their way back to the camp.

Tinkerbelle, Ariel and Regina all sat around the campfire while their hunt was roasting.

"So what do you call yourselves.. I mean, the people that live on Neverland." Regina asked, curious.

"Well there are very few women on Neverland but the ones that do live here are called the Lost Girls as anyone that steps foot on Neverland doesn't age a day until they leave and the many boys that live on the island are called the Lost Boys."

"But you don't want to get involved with them, they are bad news." Ariel warned as if talking from experience. "Enough about us. Tell us about you!"

"Ummm... Ok. What do you want to know?" Regina asked cautiously.

"For a start, what land did you come from?" Asked Tink while Ariel was turning over the deer that was hanging above the fire cooking.

"I am from a land called The Enchanted Forrest... It's a beautiful place.. On the most part nice people, magical scenery..."

"Nice people...do you think there will be any one out looking for you, Regina?"

Regina answered quietly. "I sure hope not.."

"Is there something that you aren't telling us? You can trust us, Sweetie." Ariel walked closer to sit next to Regina an gave her a reassuring smile.

She sighed. "I am a Queen. Back in my realm, I am Queen to the Enchanted Forrest and I share my reign with King Leopold and his step daughter. I was forced to marry him after Snow White, my step daughter, told my mother a secret that she sworn to secrecy but she told and my mother ripped my true loves heart out in front of me. Ever since then I have been living with my step daughter and husband waiting for a ticket to leave that land... A ticket to freedom..." Ariel and Tink were both shocked to this answer. Regina must had been holding all this in for a long time.

Ariel was first to speak. "When I found you... You had blood, bruises and cuts everywhere. That wasn't from you husband...was it?" She asked but was afraid of the answer.

"...yes." Regina said in a tiny voice that could barely be heard. They all knew what this meant. Regina had been raped.

"Oh honey..you can stay here.. For good I mean. You don't have to go back to your abusive his and or step daughter, you can stay here on Neverland with us!" Ariel and Tink both agreed.

Regina smiled gratefully. "I would like that very much."

They all ate dinner and stayed up a little longer making conversation around the campfire when they decided it was getting late and they should go to bed.

_"Regina! Is that a stain on your dress!?" Cora yelled furiously at a 7 year old Regina._

_"I'm sorry, mother. I just wanted to go out and play!" Regina replied helplessly as she stood while her mother was ripping her dirtied dress off of her._

_"You will learn, Regina! You will learn how to be a proper lady!" Cora said as she walked towards a cupboard and retrieved a leather strap._

_"No mother please! Daddy! Help me!" Regina cried out as she knew what was about to come but her father stood in the doorway unsure what to do.. Stand up for her daughter or get punished himself by his wife._

_"You have to Learn Regina!" Cora roughly turned Regina onto her back and raised the strap above her head._

_"Please mother!" Regina screamed as her mother forcefully brought the cold, hard, leather strap onto Regina's bare back._

"Regina. Regina! Wake up!

Regina woke up with a start, sitting in an upright position while a clear sheet of sweat coved her forehead and breathing heavily. She must have been screaming out because Tink was by her side trying to calm her.

"Hey, hey. It's alright, your ok." Regina's breathing became slower and less panicked.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Asked Tink gently.

"No, it's nothing.. Just go back to sleep."

"Are you sure because it didn't look like nothing."

"No that's ok, don't worry about it. Go back to bed, it's late."

"Alright... If you need anything I am right over there." Tink replied reluctant to leave Regina.

"Night.." Regina slept the rest of the night tossing and turning. She had these dreams ever since she pushed her mother through the looking glass, it was like Cora was actually sending these dreams to her.. Like she was trying to make her regret pushing her.

Ariel and Tink were already up by the time Regina woke. They were packing supplies for the day ahead of them. Who knows what today could bring..

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" Ariel greeted cheerfully. Regina quite liked Ariel's chirpy personality.. It reminded her of Daniel.

"Morning. So what do we have planned today?" Regina asked still sitting on her hammock.

"We'll first, we need to go hunting again and get some breakfast because the deer from last night won't supply food for all of us.. One maybe but that's it so we are going hunting then we are moving camp a little deeper into the Forrest as the high tide is coming which means pirates." Tink explained to Regina while getting the final things that was needed for the move.

"But what about the tree house? Won't the pirates destroy it?" Regina asked concerned.

"Tink usually puts it under a protective spell with the pixie dust and we will be back within a few days anyway so we should be fine." With that they all grabbed their things and waited while Tink put on the protection spell then were on their way.

It took about 2 hours before they finally found a decent spot to set up but this camp won't be as comfortable as the other one as they don't have the comfort of a tree house but it should do for a few days. The three of them set out to look for some breakfast as they were all very hungry by now.

"I think I heard something rustle the bushes over here, I am going to take a look."

"Do you want us to come with you, Regina?"

"No, I will be fine. I'm just over a yell away!" Regina laughed. Ariel handed over a bow and some arrows just in case there was something. Regina was about to start walking when Tink grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Be careful." She said sternly and Regina smiled.

Regina made her way towards where she heard the noise and away from the girls when she heard another rustle.

"Where are you..." Regina mutted to herself as she was getting impatient. She never really went hungry. She always had food supply and people ready to stop anything to get it for her at her command.

She heard the rustle again, this time from behind her. She turned on her heels when something grabbed her. It was a man, a very large, strong man. Shre dropped the bow and arrow as she was stunned in fear. He came and grabbed her from behind with one hand holding her close to him and another over her mouth.

"Make one noise and you and your little friends are dead."

***Hey guys, please review! I want to know what you guys think about the story and if you have any suggestions to make it better! Should I continue?***


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